The news is always an invitation to reflect upon our human nature and God’s ways. Take “salvation” for example. What does that word really mean to people struggling to make it day-by-day? To lives swamped by the hurricanes, to family circles broken by the shooter… What does “salvation” mean?
Kathleen Norris is an insightful writer. In “Amazing Grace” she tells about an acquaintance who thought he could make some good money dealing drugs but got out when he discovered drug dealers would kill you if you got in their way. “‘I decided to get out,” he said. ‘This was over my head.’” And Kathleen Norris writes, “And that is salvation, or at least the beginning of it” (19-20).
Christians can talk about salvation as if it were some kind of airy, non-body experience, but that robs the Good News of its help when we’re hurting. The word “salvation” generally means preservation in danger and deliverance from impending death. The “savior” is the deliverer. “In Scripture, salvation often has the connotation of restoring a person to good health. Salvation also is used, however, in the sense of snatching someone from peril. It denotes deliverance from danger or removal of a person from a life-threatening situation.” (J.A.O. Preus, “Just Words,” 190).
From that basic use comes the Bible’s description of Jesus rescuing us from sin, death, and Satan, and winning for us forgiveness and eternal life. However, don’t let the eternal dimension of salvation cause us to forget salvation’s here-and-now implications. God so wants you to be His forever that His Spirit comes to be with you in whatever problems this sinful and broken world lays on you. That’s why Christian presence, comfort and good works are part of God’s way to hurting people. Salvation isn’t escaping problems; it’s our Savior’s presence guiding through them.
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